For a Good Cause - Head Shaving

This is what my oldest son Aidan looked like about a month ago: 

I’m biased, but isn’t he a good looking almost-teenager? J Other than the mop that lived on the top of his head – he and his brother have super thick hair, which is also slightly curly. Aidan’s been growing his hair for months now, in anticipation of this.

He took head-shave pledges for the Kids Cancer Care Foundation here in Calgary. This organization ensures kids dealing with cancer (and their siblings) get the chance to go to camp – it’s a great cause and definitely makes you realize how lucky you are – well, it makes me realize that anyway.

Aidan and 60 other kids (!) at school raised money and on June 9^th, they came home looking like this: 

What a difference!

Here’s a side by side of the before and after pictures so you can see the extreme change: 

I’m a proud Mom – Aidan raised more than $1000 for Kids Cancer Care, and overall, their school raised more than $30,000! Woohoo! Way to go everyone! J

Cheers!

Kim

Meals - Week 21 and Two recipes (!)

So, a while back I talked about my meal planning challenges - mostly because of the kitchen being unusable (you can see that here and here), and partly because life was so busy I ccouldn't seem to find ten minutes to plan.

Well, neither of those things have changed, unfortunately, but I have planned our meals for the past few weeks. And somehow that is helping make life seem less chaotic. J

The kitchen is slowly moving ahead – the next time I think I can take on a fairly extensive project while working full time and trying to keep the kids on time for after-school activities, can someone please remind me about this? (gently, please J) Trying to be Superwoman isn’t helping anyone at home. Seriously. I'll show you how it's going later this week.

Okay, back to food – here is the recap of what we ate a few weeks ago (week 21, according to the title).

Monday: super simple pasta dinner – noodles and sauce.

Tuesday: Chicken fajitas – using home-made fajita seasoning. Eating with your hands is always a hit with kids J

Wednesday: Citrus Pork Chops with mashed potatoes

Thursday: Cheesy Baked Shells and Broccoli. This recipe comes from Real Simple and turned out really well. Next time, I’ll add some chicken since there was no protein and that isn’t a good thing for growing 12 year olds.

Image and recipe from Real Simple

Friday: Wendy’s take out – after a long week at work and at home, this was a quick and easy meal. I wish I could say I had a baked potato and chili, but I can’t. L

Saturday: French Onion Soup – this was our evening with no kids, so we had one of our go-to ‘adult’ meals. We don’t order French onion soup when we go out for dinner anymore because nothing compares to this version. It must be the white wine J

image and recipe from Fine Cooking

So, it was a good dinner week J It really does make the week feel less rushed and busy, which is always a good thing.

Cheers! Kim

Spring is Here!

Pretty much, anyway.

On Monday I showed you the flowers that bloomed for me on Mother’s Day: 

I thought I’d take a few more pictures and show you what spring looks like for us right now:

My lupins are growing like crazy

And my rhubarb is too (it’s already about 4 inches taller than that – it’s growing a few inches a day J).

And spring in our house wouldn’t be complete without nerf guns everywhere. The kids have ‘battles’ with each other and the kids next door. Mr. E has to be REALLY careful when he cuts the grass, so he doesn’t chew up any bullets. Thankfully they’re orange J

It’s tough living in a cold climate – my tulips are almost ready and they’ve been blooming in other parts of Canada for weeks now. My Mom has already had rhubarb desserts, but mine won’t be ready for another three weeks, at least. It looks like a few of my plants didn’t survive the winter, and it was a mild one. L

And . . .

The weather channel is calling for snow tonight – yup, snow. Planting anything outside before the May long weekend is definitely tempting fate here.

It takes so long for spring to arrive here, and fall shows up way too fast.

I may have to visit the garden centre on Monday though, just to pick up a few new plants to try out. I have some plans for our front entrance – I’ll keep you posted on how it turns out.

Have a great long weekend!

Cheers! Kim

Inspiration Board - Kids Bathroom

It’s amazing what can happen with one innocent comment, isn’t it?

Yet again, I found a wet towel on the floor of the boys’ bathroom on Wednesday morning – it seems like that’s where at least one ends up after morning showers. So, this time, I asked why  child #2 had left his towel on the floor:

‘Mom, I don’t like the colour of these towels.’

‘Um, okay. What colour towel would you like?’

‘Well, I like green, so a green towel would be good.’

Huh? Okay. It’s odd reasoning, but I kind of understand. I updated the bathroom about five years ago, when the boys were fine with my style and preferences. I painted it so it was a different colour than the rest of the house, and attempted a beach theme – starfish, seashells, and a tropical blue paint. The towels were from our old house and were beige – boring but serviceable.

But not loved, apparently.

So, I’ve decided it’s time to update the room to reflect the kids a bit more – brighter and more fun.

So, just for you Zach, here are my ideas, all based around a green towel.

links to sources:  board and batten; hooks; artwork; shower curtan; vanity; towels

What do you think?

Cheers! Kim

A Milestone in our House

There are some major events that make me realize that life goes WAY too fast and I wish it would slow down. One of those events happened today.

The boys came home from school on their own today - no more daycare.

That is a big deal to me - they're officially old enough to stay home on their own. Wow.

This seems like yesterday:

But it was more than five years ago.

Different events affect people differently - this one is affecting me. My kids are old enough to stay home alone - how old does that make me?

I know it doesn't make me any older, but that's how it makes me feel.

Life goes WAY too fast.

Kim

Time Flies . . .

It's been three weeks since I posted anything - time truly does seem to disappear in the blink of an eye. I do have the excuse of being out of the country for one of those weeks, so maybe it's not as bad as I think.

International travel sounds so exotic, doesn't it? Exotic definitely didn't define our vacation, but fun, crazy and awesome did. :)

We surprised the kids with a trip to Disneyland - we didn't get the reaction we were hoping for (it wouldn't make a Disney commercial, that's for sure), but once the kids got over the shock, they were very excited.

Everyone had a great time - the weather was mostly good and we only lost one day to a massive rain storm (the first storm of the year, with weather warnings and 2 inches of rain in less than 6 hours). We also did one day at Universal Studios, which was where I got the only picture of me:

And, we didn't get any pictures of Mr. E and I together - nope, not one. Oh well - I know we were both there :)

It was a great week - the kids had a great time - they went on nearly all the roller coasters and most of the other rides. Having all four above the minimum height for all the rides helped a lot (that's 48.5 inches, by the way). The line-ups weren't very bad during the week, so it made for a good vacation. The line-ups on Saturday - those weren't any fun at all. If that's what peak season is like, I couldn't go - it was too busy for me.

So there you have it - what we did for the first week in October, while the kids should have been at school ;) it's fun being the rebel parent once in a while!


Kim

Kids artwork

I'm sure every parent keeps special artwork that their kids have made - it's only natural.

However, I doubt that most parents keep every piece of artwork their kids have ever made - especially when those kids are nearly in junior high.

I'm that parent - I had boxes and bags of the boys' artwork. Every line drawing and scribble they'd done in their early years. This is a small pile, sitting on the kitchen table:

As we (okay, I) slowly declutter and try to clear out boxes and bags of stuff :), it became apparent that I had to let these pictures go. But, as a Mom, how can I let all of these memories go?

I don't have to.

Over the past few weeks, I've been taking a few minutes here and there, scanning these pictures at work and emailing them to myself  (our copy machine will email jpeg files). And I've added the images to my digital photo frame - so I can see this priceless art all the time, and it isn't hidden away in a box in the basement.

I've kept a few pieces of art that I really liked:

either because they're cute

or because I love the colours

or because they're really good.

I don't feel bad about letting the pictures go - I know they're safe, with the memories that go along with them. And, I can share them with their Grandma and Dad and whoever else I can. :)

Now, only two more boxes to go.

Cheers!
Kim